Federal appeals court removes Bulger trial judge

The U.S. First Circuit court has upheld mobster James “Whitey” Bulger’s claim that U.S. District Court Judge Richard Stearns can’t be impartial for his murder trial, because Stearns was with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts when Bulger was an FBI informant.

A federal appeals court has ordered that a new judge be chosen to preside over accused mobster James “Whitey” Bulger’s murder trial.

The order is a major legal victory for Bulger. It upholds the claim by him and his attorney J.W. Carney Jr. that Stearns shouldn’t hear his case because Stearns would have known about Bulger’s activities as an informant in the 1970s and ‘80s, because Stearns was a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Massachusetts then.

Bulger is scheduled to go on trial on June 6 for 19 murders.

In an opinion issued Thursday morning, the three-judge panel of the U.S. First Circuit appeals court said U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns should be removed from the case.

Writing for the appeals court, retired Supreme Court justice David Souter said that despite the court’s respect for Stearns and its belief in his sincerity, “we are nonetheless bound to conclude that it is clear that a reasonable person might question the judge’s ability to preserve impartiality through the course of this prosecution.”

Bulger said Stearns would have known about his FBI involvement, since the U.S. Attorney’s Office worked with the New England Organized Crime Strike Force, and because Stearns knew FBI officials and others in the strike force.

Stearns had refused to step down from Bulger’s case, saying he wasn’t connected to the strike force and so had no information that would compromise his ability to conduct Bulger’s murder trial impartially.

The order notes that Bulger and Carney have said they won’t see further trial delays if Stearns is replaced.